Gurugram: Water supply in several areas to be affected on Friday

The GMDA released a public notice to this effect on Thursday, announcing that Zone II areas, which include DLF Phase 1, 2, 3, MG Road, Sushant Lok 1, sectors 17, 29, 42, 43, and surrounding localities, would not receive water from 7am to 7pm.

Water supply to several parts of the city will be affected for 12 hours on Friday as the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has decided to fix a master pipeline supplying water to Zone II, which houses approximately seven to eight lakh citizens.

The GMDA released a public notice to this effect on Thursday, announcing that Zone II areas, which include DLF Phase 1, 2, 3, MG Road, Sushant Lok 1, sectors 17, 29, 42, 43, and surrounding localities, would not receive water from 7am to 7pm.

Water supply to several parts of Gurugram will be affected for 12 hours on Friday. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“All residents are advised to use water judiciously on 26.07.2019 to avoid a completely dry condition,” the notice stated.

These areas are supplied water via a boosting station in Sector 16, where a leakage in the master water supply pipeline was detected a few weeks ago. Repair work was originally scheduled for the first week of July, but had to be delayed, GMDA officials said.

“We were experiencing peak summer demand at the time, and realised it would inconvenience citizens too much. Now, as the city’s demand has reduced, we have decided to go ahead with the repair work,” Abhinav Verma, executive engineer, GMDA, said, adding that disrupting water supply was the authority’s last option, but a necessary one.

“It is impossible to fix leakages in an active water pipeline without turning off the supply. The water pressure inside the pipe is so heavy that a wrong move could seriously endanger the technicians,” Verma said. He added that the repair work was imperative as the ongoing leakage was leading to a loss of water from the master supply pipeline.

Earlier this month, the GMDA had also reduced its water supply to the city from about 490 million litres per day (MLD) to about 400 MLD, as water theft in the Gurgaon Water Supply Canal (GWSC) in Bahadurgarh had reduced the quantum of water available to the GMDA for further distribution. However, as peak summer has ended, water rationing has concluded. “We are now back to supplying about 450 MLD, which is normal for this time of the year,” Verma said, assuring that the summer season’s pressures on water supply have eased.

Residents in the area said they were making preparations for Friday’s disruption in water supply. Sanjay Bawa, who lives in Sushant Lok 1, said, “A few of us have arranged for tankers to come in early on Friday, so we don’t fall short. We hope that the work is carried out satisfactorily so that further disruption of supply is not required.”